Norfolk prepares to mark 80 years since VE Day's joyful end to war
It was the celebration of the century and it began in May 1945…the streets echoed to the sounds of Land of Hope and Glory, There's Always Be An England not forgetting Knees Up Mother Brown.
The Eastern Daily Press and the Eastern Evening News printed special editions to spread the news which led to the traditional Norfolk reserve disappearing as strangers kissed and hugged each other while flag-waving children shouted and screamed.
Winston Churchill described VE Day on May 8: 'The greatest outburst of joy in the history of mankind.'
Now I am asking for your memories and photographs of this day and the parties which followed in Norwich, towns and villages across our county. It is important that we share them to mark the 80th anniversary of both VE and VJ Day which followed in the August.
Looking down on the thousands of people who gathered for VE Day events in Norwich (Image: Newsquest archive) Perhaps you have old photographs tucked away in a box or members of your family wrote down their memories? Better still you can remember the events to mark the end of the Second World War.
It is also a time to remember those who had lost their lives at home and across the world fighting for our freedom. So many would not be returning to family and friends.
And many men from Norfolk and Suffolk were still being held in the horrific Japanese PoW slave camps. It would be some time before the survivors finally made it home. They had been to hell and back.
At 3pm on May 8 people gathered around their wireless sets or listened to loudspeakers put up on the streets to hear Winston Churchill announce the war in Europe would end at midnight.
From a balcony in Whitehall, Winston Churchill addresses the crowds on the surrender of Germany marking victory in Europe (Image: Newsquest archive) 'Advance Britannia. Long live the cause of freedom. God Save the King!' he said…and the biggest and longest party in our history kicked off.
Tables and chairs were carried out into the streets. Ration books were cast aside as shopkeepers arrived with treats. The flags were flying and the streets turned from a grim black and white to full technicolour.
It was 30 years ago when Evelyn Howard of Mautby said how VE-Day was so very special. It was also the day her daughter Patricia was born. She was given a middle name to mark the occasion…Veda.
And it was also the time Peggy Flynn (Colman) , a young mother, was in the midst of the crowds outside City Hall in Norwich where she was pushed against the railings.
The people who lived around Carrow Road in Norwich during the Second World War gather on the pitch to celebration victory in Europe (Image: submitted) 'I was alone in all the celebrations,' she told me in 1995.
Her thoughts were with her husband Billy in Burma. He did eventually make it home along with brothers Geoffrey and Dennis were in Germany but brothers Kenneth and Raymond were serving in the Far East – they did not return.
'The war broke us up. Life was never the same again,' said Peggy.
If you have any memories or photographs of VE Day and celebrations that followed across Norfolk I would love to hear from you at derek.james2013@gmail.com or you could ring me on Norwich (01603) 622607. Thank you.
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